FORUM PROTESTANT,CATHOLIC, JEW: THE TRANSFORMATIVE POSSIBILITIES OF EDUCATING ACROSS RELIGIOUS BOUNDARIES

A recent gift to establish a new rabbinic ordination program at the University of Judaism provides the catalyst for faculty development of a new philosophy of religious education that emphasizes morally and epistemi‐cally oriented conceptions of learning. This paper traces the plight of modernity in premodern conceptions of Jewish learning, reviews responses to this plight during the past 150 years, and proposes an alternative view of learning that promotes the re‐engagement of epistemic and moral authority in education.     

Identity,scale and soccer supporter groups: the case of the Timbers Army

The purpose of this article is to examine how Timbers Army members collectively construct and present their supporter group identity through an awareness of and interaction with soccer and supporter culture at different socio-geographic scales. Central to this is a strong attachment to and with place – most specifically to the city of Portland, Oregon, where the team is based. Using participant observation and interviews, we explore how the group’s identity evolved in a country without a history of soccer support. The findings illustrate how individuals and collectives come to view themselves and their locality within a globalized world through processes of glocalization and relativization. Soccer and its attenuate supporter culture(s) are perfect arenas for exploring social identity and the fuzziness of geographic borders within global–local interactions due to the global appeal yet highly specific local manifestations of soccer support.     

HPT in Academic Curricula: Survey Results

The purpose of this research was to determine to what extent human performance technology (HPT) is being taught in academic programs that traditionally emphasized training—programs such as instructional systems, training and development, human resource development, and adult learning. A written survey was used to collect data from 82 academic programs. Results indicate that while training (and the related areas of needs assessment and evaluation) continues to dominate curricula at these institutions, non-training performance improvement strategies (and the broader performance analysis that leads to their selection) are frequently taught as well. No correlations were found between the extent of teaching HPT topics and the variables of program size, program type, location, degrees offered, or faculty membership in NSPI (now called the International Society for Performance Improvement). Future research could investigate the driving and restraining forces that determine HPT's impact on the curriculum and the effects that current curricula have on program graduates.